Blood and Jazz

Notes from the Dvirhim Revolution

Abram "Pest" Petrovsky

Embittered, Mischief-Making Pretty Boy

Description:

Race: Svirfneblin (Deep Gnome)

Bio:

Abram Petrovsky was born in the slums and alleys of Lower Medyova in 3954, living in squalor and oppression while practically at the Imperial Family’s doorstep for thirty-four years. Born with spastic diplegia that has never been properly diagnosed or treated, Abram has had to cope with a clumsy right leg and the hateful labels that have come with it since childhood; unable to effectively run away from bullies, Abram was forced to learn to fight rather than fly, developing extraordinary skill with cheap or improvised weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and whatever other means of self-defense fell within his reach. After he surprised Caravag in a seedy jazz club with both his natural musical talent and his hard-learned practical combat skills, Caravag inducted the angry boy into his personal band of music and mayhem as their latest recruit in 3988—much to the chagrin of most of the other band members, who generally find his antics tiresome, his aggressive demeanor antisocial, and the esteem in which Caravag apparently holds him misplaced. Only Darror seems to find him genuinely entertaining and likable.

Samson Dunsany is particularly disdainful of Abram, and never allows the boy to forget it; Dunsany was the first to suggest the nickname of ‘Pest’ for him, and ensures every day that he will find no relief from oppression for his disability within the band. Despite this, Abram has remained with the band for nearly a year, committed to the revolution and unwilling to let Dunsany drive him away; he has apparently accepted his nickname, and Pest and Dunsany have remained locked in a cold war of passive aggression ever since.

Since joining the band, Pest has picked up great skill with the bastard sword and small arms, integrating both with his preexisting mastery of close-quarters combat with knives and improvised weapons. He constantly drinks potions of Haste from a private hip flask to offset his disability, granting him supernatural quickness in combat and a persistent faint smell of licorice. He is also an amateur alchemist, sometimes crafting tanglefoot bags or smokesticks for prank-related purposes, sometimes using his equipment to blend and brew homemade coffee (oblivious or apathetic to the health risks of such alternative usage). He has recently taken an interest in the freshly-recruited pixie sorceress and alchemist Aislin, with whom he shares an enjoyment of alchemy, spellcraft, mischief, and petty revenge.